


Stolen Polaroids; Cameras and Shots

by takoyolki



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Fluff, M/M, Romance, comedy but lowkey, it's really just jaeyong, with a whole lot of nct being completely gay with each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 05:12:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11616600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takoyolki/pseuds/takoyolki
Summary: In which Jaehyun finds Taeyong's polaroid camera and takes it; initially wanting to just give it back but his dumbass friends suggested he use it to take photos of Taeyong - and if that's not bad enough, they suggested him to give it to Taeyong, too. Jaehyun thought that's pretty ridiculous, but Jaehyun was also pretty ridiculous.or.Jaehyun takes Taeyong's polaroid camera and uses it to take photos of Taeyong because he thinks Taeyong's the most beautiful person alive. Taeyong doesn't mind the attention and the pretty polaroid photos he gets, either.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posted on my aff account (kimchijima)!

Taeyong silently tapped the back of his pen against his table, the tapping making sounds much louder than his classmates’ violent shoves of their messy History examination papers inside of their school bags. Most of the papers held bright, vicious red marks on them; plenty showcasing the numerals between 20 to 31, the average score for any student in the school unless they were in the Advanced Classes.

The bell had rung just a moment ago, signaling the start of lunch break for the first day they came back to school after their term break. Although they were in a boarding school and they were never allowed to be out of the school’s premises unless it was a weekend, the bell that only rings during the end of the day and the beginning of lunch break was what all of the students anticipate the second they enter the Education Building. All, including Taeyong. Taeyong has never decided to sit down in his class - much less History - while his classmates raced each other out the doors. Heck, Taeyong would be the first running out of the doors while screaming over his shoulder about how slow his friends were. That, however, was obviously not the case today.

Feeling a pat on his shoulder, Taeyong turned his head to the side, looking up to see his friends. Yuta had his hand on Taeyong’s shoulder, a small smile plastered onto his face while Doyoung could only intake a small breath before giving Taeyong a smile, too. Taeyong pursed his lips, smiling as he shook his head, grabbing his exam paper and playfully smacking it against Doyoung’s forearm.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s just our midterms. It isn’t our finals.” Taeyong spoke, hoping his voice didn’t waver as much as his emotions were.

“Yeah. It’s not our finals, and besides, we aren’t actually seniors this year! We still have a year and a half to go!” Doyoung exclaimed enthusiastically, though the strain in his voice betrayed how enthusiastic he wanted to come off as.

“I agree. Let’s just be happy we aren’t Taeil. He might already be crying right now as we speak. Now, we don’t want to cry, do we? We aren’t Moon Taeil, are we?” Yuta chipped in with a high voice at the end of the note, imitating the annoying cafeteria lady they all hated.

As Yuta spoke, Taeyong glanced back at his History paper. Their History teacher, Mrs. Hwang was nice enough to write Taeyong’s mark in a smaller handwriting, with a short and brief ‘Fighting, Taeyong! You can do it in the next term!’ scribbled neatly underneath it. Taeyong’s 10% wasn’t so surprising to him, as he clearly remembered how he was incredibly sick during that day, the last day of their midterms. Not only sick, but he was also sporting a high fever of 39 degrees. He made it through that day during the school session, but had collapsed once he had gotten back to his dorm room. Finally, he could never forget how he awoke 30 minutes later to Donghyuck reciting the bible and sprinkling water on his face, having thought Taeyong was cursed by someone and therefore had collapsed.

Remembering the day, Taeyong snickered to himself. Doyoung silently approached Taeyong’s paper, taking it in his own hands and folding it into half to hide the view of Taeyong’s front page. He inserted the paper inside his own file made specifically for horribly performed examination papers. Whenever the three friends had a bad grade that they didn’t really wish to see, Doyoung’s file would be where they slid their papers in. Mark, Donghyuck and Taeil also had their own sections in the file. They were all a group of best friends, after all.

“Come on.” Nudging his head to the door, Yuta grabbed onto Taeyong’s bicep to pull him out of his seat.

The class was already empty and deserted, save for the three. Mrs. Hwang had left the key for the room hanging inside the key lock of the door for them. They’d have to return the key to her in the Teacher’s Building, or as Donghyuck would say because he hates the clerk there, The-Crazy-Ballerina-Bun-Headed-Frog Clerk’s Den.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Taeyong muttered, still feeling weak and utterly ashamed with himself despite having reasons to forgive himself for his terrible marks this time around. “Can we head to the field first, though? I kind of want to put down my bags and stuff first before we head to the cafeteria this time.” Taeyong questioned, hoping his friends wouldn’t mind.

The two friends nodded their head to Taeyong, understanding that he wasn’t ready to face the cafeteria just yet where all of the students would be busy talking about their examination marks. The majority would probably be screaming, crying and generally, it would be difficult to drown out their sounds. Though they never really get a seat in the cafeteria since they’re always eating at the school’s field near the school’s garden and pool, Taeyong was still in no shape to step inside the cafeteria.

Taeyong stood up from his seat, zipping his red bag secure before he wore it on one arm, letting the other side hang loose behind him. Taeyong decided to stand at the right, Doyoung in the middle and Yuta beside the left. Usually, Taeyong would stand in the middle, but he didn’t feel good enough about himself to actually stand in the middle of them for now.

+/+

Reaching the field and the spot where they usually spent the one hour of lunch at, Taeyong noticed that Mark, Donghyuck and Taeil were all already sprawled around in a small circle. Their heads were to each other, legs spread apart in front with their eyes closed. Their bags were situated in between of their bodies, their files and textbooks thrown beside the bags. The scene was picturesque, and Taeyong couldn’t help but snort. Yuta had ran towards them, falling headfirst on top of Taeil, who let out a loud ‘Oof!’ and a cry of pain. Doyoung laughed out loud, grabbing Taeyong’s wrist and pulling him to the group.

Mark had raised his head to look at Taeyong and Doyoung, screaming the words, “Taeyong! Take a photo of us with your polaroid camera!”.

“Without Yuta!” Donghyuck yelled back, his head still down.

Hearing Donghyuck’s exclamation, Yuta kicked Donghyuck. Donghyuck shrieked, sitting up to smack Yuta’s bum with his thick Mathematics text book. Yuta stuck his tongue out at the youngest of the bunch, before he got up and brushed off the debris of flowers that got stuck on his school uniform pants. Taeyong and Doyoung arrived towards them as that happened, with Taeyong’s polaroid camera already in his hand.

“Get back to the circle, Donghyuck!” Taeyong said, pushing the younger down gently.

Mark held onto Donghyuck’s wrist as the latter laid back down. Mark let go once he was down, settling himself back down perfectly in between of Donghyuck and Taeil, who had tried his best to not say or do anything as he had no intentions of ruining their perfect circle.

“I want to take the photo.” Yuta said, taking the camera from Taeyong before he even got to say anything.

Taeyong let out a soft chuckle, swinging an arm across the shoulder of Doyoung and Yuta respectively. He was starting to feel a lot better with all of his friends. Doyoung must have texted Taeil earlier to inform him of what had happened along with their plans of going to the field first while they were walking, since Taeyong noticed him walking slower than usual and was on his phone.

As Yuta pressed on the camera, the film comes out immediately. Mark jumps up to take the film, quickly hiding it from the others as he fans the film. Donghyuck jumps up, too, but instead of going to Mark to blow at the film like he always would after they took a polaroid photo, he grabbed onto Taeyong instead and, with one swift motion, kicked Taeyong off of his feet by sweeping his legs along  the others’ feet. Taeyong let out a loud yelp, and was even more confused when Taeil suddenly took off his snap back and placed something else upon his head.

“Awe! Taeyongie looks so pretty like this!” Yuta coo-ed, making Taeyong face him in pure and utter disgust.

Taeyong lifted his hand up, feeling something soft on top of his head. It wasn’t soft like hair or fur, but it felt familiar to touch. Before he could ask what it was, Taeil was already up beside Yuta with Donghyuck beside Doyoung, telling him what it was.

“It’s a flower crown we made before you got here. It’s not the best, but apparently it was Mark’s best.” Taeil explained briefly.

“Yeah, and his first.” Donghyuck remarked, making Mark smack his head with the polaroid film once he saw that the photo has already appeared, clear and of high quality.

“We thought it’d be a pretty photo if you wore a flower crown and acted asleep.” Mark beamed, as he showed Donghyuck the photo first, which the latter nodded at in satisfaction.

“Okay, okay, but just so you know, I’m always handsome.” Taeyong said, emphasizing on the ‘handsome’. Yuta snorted, and Taeyong swore he heard him mutter the words, ‘Sure, princess.’.

Ignoring Yuta’s words, Taeyong decided to pose by sleeping on his side. His hands were placed on top of each other, and he tried to make his face look as soft as he could. He closed his eyes as he felt his friends scurry about him, most probably placing around some files, books, papers and pens around him to make the photo more aesthetic. He felt a hand positioning the flower crown on his head, before it was silent for a bit with the soft breeze blowing. A click and whirring sound was heard, and Taeyong lifted his head to see the film already in Mark’s hand yet again with Donghyuck blowing his breath on the film. Doyoung, Taeil and Yuta sat down first. Doyoung threw his bag and Taeyong’s which he had taken off of the other clumsily when Donghyuck pushed Taeyong down. Yuta threw his bag on top of a tree branch, the tree being nearby of them since the garden was close, too.

“Ahah!” Mark yelled out triumphantly, showing Taeyong the photo.

Taeyong had to admit, he looked pretty in the photo. Taeyong wouldn’t ever describe himself as pretty on a regular basis, but when occasions like these happened where his friends would have him pose in slightly girly, floral or just a pretty background in general, he did think he was sort of pretty.

“It’s great.” Taeyong said appreciatively, taking the photo from Mark while his chest bubbled with warmth as he looked at the photo.

“Yeah, now let’s go get lunch. I’m starving!” Yuta groaned, rolling over on his stomach as he lets out a wail.

“Agreed.” Doyoung said, before a low growl was heard coming from his stomach.

Doyoung yelped out in embarrassment, grabbing his bag to cover his stomach, as if that could cover the sound of it that was already released. The others burst out laughing, Taeil ruffling Doyoung’s head.

Taeyong sat on his knees on the ground, placing his polaroid camera on it with his photo tucked underneath. He stood up from the ground, calling for his friends to stand up too and announcing that they were going to the Teacher’s Building after they buy food from the cafeteria.

“Let’s bring our bags, too. I have some questions to ask about my Korean Language class.” Mark uttered, disappointment lacing every single one of his word.

Taeyong’s brows immediately furrowed, before he takes his bag and Mark’s. He squeezed the younger’s shoulder, pecking his cheeks excessively which earned him a big, bright smile from the other and a laugh as Mark tried to escape with the screams of, “Taeyong! Stop!”.

Taeyong laughed, too. He had the best friends in the world, and though Mark had probably failed his Korean Language examination terribly like Taeyong had with History, Taeyong felt slightly okay to know he wasn’t the only one who was down. Mark must’ve felt like so, too, because he would usually never openly ask for help immediately after he got his paper. He would usually ask in a day or two since he had to take the time to feel better after the damage he got from his mark.

“Are we just going to leave your polaroid camera there, Taeyong?” Taeil asked, looking at the camera worriedly.

Taeyong merely shrugged as a reply. “It’s okay, and we need something to show that we’ve already claimed the spot, anyways.” He said, and Taeil nodded silently.

+/+

Jaehyun was walking to the school’s garden after he had lunch with his friends in the cafeteria. He wanted to read a book, and his friends were all busy chattering away, talking about their examination papers and comparing their marks and answers. Jaehyun didn’t exactly do excellent in the examination, because he was just another average student in the school, but he didn’t have the motivation or drive to talk about the papers. He had borrowed a book from the library just yesterday before curfew, and he didn’t get to start reading it since he was frantic with last-minute bag packings and ironing his school uniform before the lights had to go out in the dorm rooms.

“Lady Midnight.” Jaehyun muttered under his breath as he flipped the book around.

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clarke was the book he had borrowed. He may be Korean, but he was pretty decent in English. Decent enough to be able to read a book and understand its contents. Maybe not the big words or the words which were only there to make the sentences fancy, but that was what Johnny was there for. His translator, even though Johnny still had trouble with his Korean and had once translated ‘mountain man’ to ‘fuck you’. The two words didn’t even have the same pronunciation.

As Jaehyun strode towards the garden, he passed by the school’s pool which has people loitering about. Most of them were couples sitting by the pool, the girls with their feet planted in and the guys just sitting cross-legged. The male and male couples were sitting at the back, as Jaehyun noticed Chanyeol and Baekhyun huddled together. The female and female couples were more open, laughing and giving pecks on the cheeks as Wendy was doing to Seulgi.

Passing by the school’s pool, Jaehyun walked along the school’s open field which had some flowers and bushes being grown around. Some benches had people sleeping with books on their faces, and some were sleeping on the field itself. Nearing the garden, Jaehyun noticed something white that glimmered slightly on the ground.

Jaehyun, feeling confused and worried that it was something of value such as a ring, went to the glimmering item he spotted. Going closer, Jaehyun noticed that it was a polaroid camera, and the glimmer was from the camera’s flash that the sun was shining down on.

“What idiot decided to leave their camera lying around the school’s field?” Jaehyun questioned himself incredulously.

Jaehyun, as a self-proclaimed photographer, would never leave his cameras lying around. Jaehyun had always wanted a polaroid, too, so seeing as the owner of the camera simply left their camera around left Jaehyun to silently fume. As quick as his fuming was about to begin, though, it quickly dissipated as he noticed the photo placed under the polaroid. Carefully, he lifted the polaroid to see the photo of Lee Taeyong, his senior by two years, looking strikingly beautiful and enchanting. Jaehyun was left with mouth agape. He took the photo in his hands, looking at the photo even more closely. It was definitely Lee Taeyong. Jaehyun would never get his face wrong, since Lee Taeyong was known all around school as among the best dancers. Jaehyun knew people applauded Ten more for his dancing, but Taeyong had always managed to steal glances and his presence on stage was undoubtedly more powerful than Ten’s, and Ten agreed to that fact.

“Maybe Taeyong accidentally left it here.” Jaehyun concluded, as he knew from stories Ten had told him about Taeyong since they were both in the same Freestyle Dancing class, Taeyong would never leave his things lying around.

“Mhm. I’ll take it and give it back to him tomorrow, or tonight maybe if I see him around the dorms.” Jaehyun said to himself, patting himself mentally on the back for being a great junior to his senior.

Standing up, Jaehyun collects the polaroid camera and film in his hand. He flips the film around, before he decides to slip it inside his wallet to avoid crumpling it. After he’s taken out his wallet, slipped the film inside the clear case in the wallet and placed it back in his pocket, Jaehyun continued on his way to the school’s garden.

+/+

“Uhm, guys?” Taeyong yelled out, calling for his friends who were behind him.

“What is it?” Mark called out back in English.

They had went to the Teacher’s Building first before they went to the cafeteria to return Mrs. Hwang’s key for the History Classroom since Doyoung was worried they might forget to return it afterwards if they took their time. At the cafeteria, they had all bought their respective lunches. Taeyong had piled his share in Taeil’s lunch, too and had bought himself some strawberry milk which he placed on Yuta’s lunch tray. This is all because Taeyong wants to be hands free as he runs to the field, laughing and shouting at his friends who’d struggle to juggle their trays while running.

Returning to the field, however, Taeyong couldn’t find his polaroid camera. “I lost my polaroid camera and my photo.” He informed, once his friends have gotten close enough, so that he doesn’t need to shout at them.

“What?!” Taeil questioned, confusion and worry written all over his facial features.

“What the heck? Who the hell would take your camera when you’ve already put your photo underneath it?” Donghyuck piped up, his face contorted in both worry and confusion, too.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Taeyong said, when Doyoung and Yuta seemed like they were about to yell out too. “It’s not a big deal. I could just get another one during the holidays, or I could just not buy another at all. We only use it when we want to take photos of our wasted days together, anyways.” Taeyong reasoned, as he realized that, indeed, he had that option and he was much calmer than his friends.

“That’s the important part of it! To take photos of our wasted days!” Mark whined, his bottom lip jutting out to form a pout.

“Maybe we could just take photos with our phones for now, but Taeyong is right, though. He has that option.” Taeil said, after pondering over what Taeyong had spoken.

“It would be a waste of money, though. I hope that person brings it back to you. Maybe he had good intentions.” Doyoung mumbled, not the least bit convinced the person who took Taeyong’s polaroid camera had ‘good intentions’.

What if that person wanted a polaroid camera to take nude shots of students in the school? Taeyong would be the one who’s in trouble since it’s his camera in the first place. None of them brought up the topic of going to the teachers to inform of the missing camera, though, because the search for it would be horrible. Bags and dorms would be searched thoroughly and classes would have to stop in the middle if the teachers suddenly wanted to do a sudden inspection. Besides, Taeyong hated to cause trouble like that, especially if it’s over a camera he could just get another one of. His parents wouldn’t be able to say much, anyhow, because Taeyong would use money he had earned over his part-time job during the one month term break. Taeyong would never use their money when it came to his own carelessness like this situation.

+/+

Jaehyun was snuggled in a small spot in the garden. A quiet, secluded place in the garden where people would usually never bother to go. When they did go, though, it was usually for short hook ups but generally, people would never. He had his book in his lap, opened to be read and reading he was, only he’s been re-reading the same paragraph for the last five minutes. He couldn’t take his mind off of the polaroid camera, feeling giddy, jittery and fidgety all at the same time. It was like his heart was about to leap out of his chest for no reason, but Jaehyun simply loved photography and polaroids.

Jaehyun took out his wallet once again, taking the polaroid of Taeyong out. He eyed the photo once again, nodding to himself over the senior’s photogenic-self. Suddenly, his phone buzzed inside his pocket. Jaehyun fished it out, looking at the groupchat’s text messages.

**[ Johnny & Fiddlesticks !! ]**

**_10/10 Ugly_ ** **: I cannot believe Johnny just called us Fiddlesticks.**  
**_Papa Johnny’s_ ** **: You’re not even focusing on the main point right now; which is Jung Jaehyun Just Stole Lee Taeyong’s Polaroid Camera.**  
**_Jisang_ ** **: I’d like to say he just doesn’t want to acknowledge that fact.**  
**_The other Jae to My 2Jae_ ** **: ^**  
**_Winwinese_ ** **: What’s a polaroid camera?**  
**_Papa Johnny’s_ ** **: This one.**  
**[** ** Johnny sent a photo ** **]**

  
**Technically, I did not ‘steal’ it.**  
**I just want to give it back tomorrow, you idiot.**

  
**_Winwinese_ ** **: Isn’t that the camera you wanted before, though?**  
**_Winwinese_ ** **: Why not borrow it for a bit?**  
**_10/10 Ugly_ ** **: WINWIN, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? NO, DO NOT.**  
**_Papa Johnny’s_ ** **: Ooh, Winwin’s got a great idea. Why not borrow it and take photos?**  
**_10/10 Ugly_ ** **: Do Not You Dare, Jung Jaehyung.**  
**_The other Jae to My 2Jae_ ** **: It’s ‘Don’t You Dare’.***  
**_Jisang_ ** **: I kind of want to see what’d happen.**  
**_The other Jae to My 2Jae_ ** **: Same. It could be like those cliche books or something, though.**  
**_The other Jae to My 2Jae_ ** **: Jaehyun could take photos of Taeyong, and send it to him?**  
**_10/10 Ugly_ ** **: Don’t give him ideas !!**

As Jaehyun reads the group chat, Jaehyun thought his friends were ridiculous but hey, he’s ridiculous too, isn’t he? Being friends with them kind of already proved that. Although, does Jaehyun really want to do that? Taeyong is a senior that everyone respects and admires, if not envy even just a little. Does Jaehyun want to take photos of him and give it to him like those cliche books that have creepy stalkers in them? Jaehyun wants to, but with a little bit more of difference because Jaehyun is handsome, and he's a fan of Taeyong's dancing even though he's not a fan of dancing itself, not a creepy stalker.


	2. Chapter One

It was the seventh sigh within the thirty minutes that Jaehyun has set into his dorm that made Johnny drop his pen on his laptop as it settled snug in between a couple of the keyboard keys. Earlier that day, about an hour after all of the classes have ended, Jaehyun had staggered and stumbled inside the dorm as if he had been doing illegal underage drinking and reminiscing about a life that he won’t ever and could never achieve and obtain. He had closed the door with such little force, Johnny thought that the door wouldn’t close and he would have to stand up and close it himself, but it did close softly, the clicking sound of the lock resonating throughout the large dorm room as its two occupants were occupied with doing their assignment and another was shuffling about lifelessly.

Johnny had eyed Jaehyun curiously as the other fumbled about, taking off his shoes, jacket and tie. He littered the clothing articles across the room, leaving pieces strewn across the tiled marbled floors before he flopped himself onto the couch in the living room, opposite of Johnny who was sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table with his laptop and multiple A4 papers on the table full of his Chemistry and Engineering notes. After Jaehyun stayed silent for a while, his face planted in one of the soft cushions Ten had bought them after complaining about how pointy and stiff every other pillow in their dorm was, including Johnny’s own thighs, Johnny nodded his head to himself and mumbled a silent, ‘Okay then.’ as he resumed to focusing on his assignment.

The term had literally just began earlier that day, at 7.30 A.M., but apparently, their Chemistry teacher Mrs. Kim had gotten their assignments ready since the first week of the previous term break and she was so much more than just simply eager to share the assignment with her class. Unfortunately, one of her classes was a class that had Johnny as her student. Even more unfortunate for Johnny, Mrs. Kim had decided that the assignments this time around would be an individual assignment, with 1/3 of its marks going into their Performance Test, Midterms and Finals. Johnny had involuntarily squawked and kicked the chair in front of him when the news was said, and now he was dealing with a good swollen toe.

Despite all that, he couldn’t exactly leave his friend to ponder over his life problem alone. Let alone if he even had a proper life problem that Johnny could actually lend a hand in seeing as most of his problems had to do with his parents not allowing him to eat certain MSG induced food products as they were constantly concerned about Jaehyun’s health which was never exactly good to begin with. Therefore, Johnny clasped his hands together, breathing in as he took in Jaehyun’s condition that still had his face pressed upon the soft cushion. Johnny wasn’t even sure if Jaehyun was breathing properly or not.

“Yes, I’m not okay.” Jaehyun mumbled loudly from his spot before Johnny could even shoot a question to him.

“Well, that was something pretty obvious. I was actually going to ask on the reason why you’re being a complete lifeless body right now.” Johnny replied back, stretching his legs under the coffee table.

Jaehyun peeked away from the pillow, looking down and seeing Johnny’s foot near him. He sees the bandage across half of the foot and he brings his hand down to fiddle with the edges of it before he answered. “It’s just that -- You know that I got that polaroid camera of Taeyong’s, right? Well --”

“Do not tell me that you accidentally broke it or lost it.” Johnny chipped in, eyes narrowing into threatening slits.

It was one thing for Jaehyun to have taken the Senior’s polaroid camera, but it was definitely one hell of another if he had broken it. Johnny didn’t mind much about the after effects as Jaehyun could probably afford to buy another polaroid camera as compensation, but what Johnny did mind was Ten would most definitely screech and shriek, and then he would sulk for the whole week and Johnny would have to deal with Jaemin’s snorts as he observed how Johnny would be practically begging for the sulky Thai’s attention.

“No! I didn’t! You know I would never hurt a precious baby!” Jaehyun scrambled to get on all fours, scowling at the other male as he should know best that Jaehyun wouldn’t ever even allow a single scratch on a camera; the fact that it being Lee Taeyong’s camera would mean it would be taken extra care of, too.

“Okay, so if it wasn’t you breaking the camera, then what is it?” Johnny asked, now intrigued and curious on what actually did happen, as he put his elbows on the coffee table and leaned forward, his evident interest glinting in his two, dark brown orbs.

“I’m having a crisis on if I should give it back or keep it and use it to do what Jaemin suggested, y’know?” Jaehyun turned to properly sit on the couch, his back slumped against it as he spread his legs out wide in front of him, eyes mindlessly looking up at the ceiling that was decorated with small glow-in-the-dark stars and moons.

“You’re actually seriously thinking about keeping it?” Johnny questioned in surprise, brows furrowing.

Johnny had thought the idea of it actually happening would be quite nice when he read the messages in the group chat. It would be fun and there would be no actual harm since Johnny knew Taeyong and his group of friends. They were all people who don’t mind exploring something new, talking to other people and making friends with them. Johnny still remembers how Mark had played the guitar once with Donghyuck, Doyoung and Taeil singing along to a song in the cafeteria after classes have ended, and Ten and Jisung had put up a small performance that day. In short, though they weren’t in the same group of friends who were extremely close and tight, they were friends enough to be able to spend some time together and have actual fun instead of an awkward silence. Though Jaehyun would usually be sitting at the corners, listening to his music library on shuffle as he frantically did his homeworks and assignments seeing as he hated to leave things to postpone and did everything early on, so he would never quite exactly join in on the excitement.

“Yeah, actually. I mean, when does a chance like this come often? I can get closer to Taeyong like this!” Jaehyun exclaimed, now looking at Johnny with bright and sparkling eyes.

“I never knew you had a fancy to get closer to Taeyong.” Johnny said, his confusion and doubt dripping off of his words.

“I never did, but I mean, look at this photo,” Jaehyun replied as he leaned over the couch to grab on his bag that was left beside it. He looked through his bag, ransacked it even as he threw his Biology, History, Korean Literature, and Spanish books out of his bag and mindlessly across the floor. Finally, he found what he had been looking for, and brought it out carefully, delicately even as if it was a bird feather of the most exotic extinct bird of planet Earth. He turned the item around with his fingers pinching one side of it lightly, and Johnny eyes the impressive polaroid photo of Taeyong, with a flower crown and surrounded by stationery items and more flowers, looking more stunning than he had ever been. Even the light shining down on him looked as if it was artificial as it simply made the photo even more perfect, like it couldn’t be real and natural, but it was. “He looks ethereal, right? And I want to take more photos of him. I’m itching to! I want to show it to him, too, and I want to know what he thinks of my photos of him, if he likes them or not.”

Johnny pursed his lips into a thin line, his tongue poking out to moisten them as he kept his gaze upon the photo in Jaehyun’s hands. Though his eyes were on the photo, his mind was elsewhere as he nodded absentmindedly, his fingers gripping one another even tightly in his grasp. If Jaehyun actually did do what he wanted to do, which was to take photos of Taeyong and send it to him, what would happen? There was a possibility that Taeyong would know it was Jaehyun’s photo. Heck, anyone would know it was Jaehyun’s photo if they had seen Jaehyun’s section in the school’s annual photography exhibition that was held during every term carnival to raise funds and donations. Jaehyun had his own photographing style, he knew his photos, he knew his muse, he knew what and who he was. This lead to people knowing him, too, even if it’s merely through eyeing his photographs, gasping in awe and admiration towards the form of art. It was too risky of something to do for Jaehyun, because the possible results were endless. Taeyong could report Jaehyun for theft, Taeyong could accuse Jaehyun of being a stalker, and these are scenarios where only Taeyong was involved. If one of his friends, especially if it was Donghyuck, were to be involved, Jaehyun might as well be making a permanent residency for himself six feet underground soon.

The possible results were endless, and that was what tugged on Johnny’s mind. What if the result was good? Johnny could not picture a scenario where a sane person would actually like being photographed by an unknown, and the photographs being sent to them, too, but if English Literature back when he was in America had taught him anything, Johnny knew that sometimes, the unexpected was what usually happens.Also, Johnny may or may not be more than just a little bit excited and eager to see Jaehyun on his hunt to capture Taeyong’s photos. As an amateur photographer who took every picture seriously and with immense amount of care, Jaehyun was caught often doing the most ridiculous of stunts before. Once, he was hanging upside down on a tree branch to capture a scenic photograph of the Sun with its white light shining off of a prism mirror after one particular Physics class after school. He had a broken leg by the end of the day, but Jaehyun only grinned in satisfaction and happiness as he told the school’s nurse about him taking the photo while he was being bandaged. The school’s nurse was, of course, not pleased at all, but when has Mr. Leeteuk ever been pleased if Jaehyun was in his infirmary constantly for at least two times per week?

“Johnny?” Jaehyun called out, snapping his fingers together near Johnny’s face.

Jaehyun had leaned forward, curiously eyeing the American as he did so. His eyes were furrowed and his lips were set to a small pout, his head tilted slightly to the side. Johnny wondered if Taeyong would ever get to see this face of Jaehyun’s when Jaehyun takes his photo.

“Have you ever seen Taeyong go to the photograph exhibitions during the carnivals? How long has he been a student here, by the way?” Johnny interrogated, blinking his eyes profusely to get the remnants of his thoughts away, so he could focus on his friend.

“I thought I was the one asking questions.” Jaehyun said, clearly offended by the lack of answer to his prime question.

“No one cares enough about you,” Johnny retorted, and Jaehyun’s mouth was left agape in accusation, as he glared daggers towards Johnny. “Anyway, answer my question.”

“Taeyong’s been in this school since his freshman year of Senior High. His Primary, Middle School and Junior High education was taken somewhere else in Seoul. Seoul does have a whole lot of different school options, anyhow,” Jaehyun answered, his reply having been quoted and unquoted from Jisung who had eavesdropped on a conversation regarding Taeyong in his class last term by a group of his classmates who were talking about this year’s Senior Batch who might grow up to become famous in the future. Jaehyun had agreed with that, because Taeyong really did have the face to become famous in the future with. “And, sadly, I’ve never seen him in the photographs exhibitions during the carnivals. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him during the carnivals even, period.” Jaehyun had bit the inside of his bottom lip as he said so, twiddling his fingers together as a small amount of disappointment crept inside of his chest like a small baby animal, begging to be seen and noticed. Jaehyun had smacked that feeling back inside, and kicked it away to the deepest corners of his heart.

“Don’t be sad,” Johnny voiced out, his voice soft and gentle as he tried to reassure Jaehyun. He wasn’t quite positive on why he was trying to reassure the younger, but it felt right to do so as Jaehyun nodded meekly in response. “That just means you have a safe path going on in front of you.”

Jaehyun’s brows furrow deep in question, his head pulled back to eye the other with confusion adorning every curve that outlined his facial features as he spoke his question, “Where are you coming from, again?”

“Chicago, America,” Johnny replied with much seriousness, as he looked into Jaehyun’s eyes with a stoic face on before Jaehyun broke out into a grin and a laugh, reaching forward to punch Johnny’s shoulder weakly. “What I mean is, if Taeyong has never been to the photography exhibitions, then that means he won’t know how your photographs look like. If he doesn’t know it’s you that’s taking his photographs, you might just be able to squeeze in a long period of time in your life that you get to take photos of him from afar.”

How bright Jaehyun’s face lit up with his wide smile, his dimples being showcased as if they were Picasso’s latest painting on a human being, his eyes almost sparkling and twinkling with only one emotion, happiness, made Johnny smile, too. Things could go wrong, in fact, they could go deadly wrong but if things actually did go right, and Jaehyun’s happiness would be even more apparent as the days go by, Johnny thinks it might be okay to salvage some of his life into helping Jaehyun in the future with finding Taeyong’s classes, Taeyong’s schedule, and Taeyong in general. After all, once Jaehyun has a muse, once Jaehyun has an interest, once Jaehyun has an object of admiration in which he could pour immense love and affection on even if it’s through photographs of the said object, Jaehyun would go through more than just little and simple lengths for them.

As Jaehyun parted his lips to speak, Johnny hears the small croak and choke as Jaehyun pauses his words in his throat when Johnny’s phone began ringing. Johnny held up a hand, pointing one finger up and mumbling a small, “Hold on a second.” as began to carelessly look through the coffee table for his phone. He lifted several heavy notes which were surrounding his laptop in a vain attempt to find his phone. He would leave it as is since Johnny has always been a lazy person in general, but he knew that ring tone. That ring tone in which the lyrics of Jason Mraz’s I’m yours was being sang out by a certain Thai male during Class Prep when the teacher on duty to secure them had excused himself to go to the toilet with the most amazing and enticing vocals Johnny had ever heard in his life, after Taeil but Taeil had won the singing competition hosted by their school in collaboration with plenty others for six years in a row since he was eleven and Ten was more renowned as a dancer, as an artist who played with emotions by wearing his heart on his sleeve and his body was the medium. Enough said, Ten’s vocals were Johnny’s favorite, even if he may be the tiniest bit of biased for the other male, but at least the biased feelings flowed both ways for the both of them.

“It’s there.” Jaehyun said as he pointed towards a small crack in the middle of Johnny’s Engineering dictionary.

Johnny held onto the book from the other side of the coffee table, swiftly sliding it up to himself as quickly as he could. The call had ended once already, but then continued as Ten might have called him once again since he was left unanswered the first time. Johnny would never not answer Ten, even if he was in the shower trying to reflect on his actions for the day or taking a dump as he tried to cry out tears of pain. Once Johnny had flipped through his book’s pages and found his phone, buzzing and playing Ten’s cover of ‘I’m Yours’, Johnny picked it up and answered the call without looking at the screen, putting his phone to his ear as he answered the caller.

“Hello?” Johnny asked into the receiver, and he pulled his phone away slightly from his ear as a loud screech resonated through the speakers. “I’m sorry, my phone went missing for a while hidden beneath my shit ton of notes.”

Johnny hears a small huff and an indignant whine on the other side before Ten finally speaks into the phone using proper language instead of noises that only a whale and elephant could probably fathom, analyze and understand.

“ _Okay, fine. I forgive you for that but! Johnny! You and Jaehyun are both going to be fucking late for Class Prep if you don’t get your ass out right now to shower and eat dinner before all the food’s gone and you’ll have to cook for yourself. I mean, Jaehyun could probably cook in a decent amount of time, but I can’t even begin to try to imagine you trying to cook a one-set dinner meal properly._ ” Ten had blabbered on into the receiver, and as he did so, Johnny had pointed to the clock hanging on the wall behind them.

Jaehyun had seen that they would be really damned late for Class Prep as he eyed the clock above the 42-inch flat screen television of their room. He nodded his head and stood up from the couch, scrambling into his room, most probably to gather clean clothes and a plastic bag to dump in his laundry inside before they left the bag inside their dorm. Johnny sees him getting out of his room, shutting the door hastily as it collided to a close with a loud ‘bang’. Johnny had flinched, but saw that Jaehyun gave him a nod to continue speaking with Ten as he entered Johnny’s room next. Johnny mouthed a short, ‘Thanks!’ and Jaehyun sent him an ‘Okay.’ sign.

“We’ll be down really soon, save a spot for us.” Johnny said once Ten had finished his long blabber, and he then heard a soft groan of frustration.

“ _To hell with saving a spot for your ass._ ” Ten hissed out in reply before Johnny hears the constant beep which means the call had ended.

Johnny tears his phone away from his ear as Jaehyun strides into the living room with two sets of clothes hanging off of his arms and a plastic bag that was full of toiletries and a single empty, bunched up plastic bag inside it for their dirty clothes in a while on the wrist of his other arm. He looked at Johnny who motioned his head to the door and Jaehyun nodded as he walked to the door, leaving Johnny behind him to stand up and place his phone back inside of his jean’s pocket. Johnny went to stand beside Jaehyun by the dorm’s entrance, who was putting on his sneakers after he had placed the clothes and plastic bag nearby.

“Did Ten cut you off again?” Jaehyun asked, picking his own things up as he stood up to his full height, a sly grin decorating his face.

“We’re going to the Eating Hall first.” Johnny simply said, and Jaehyun’s grin grew bigger in understanding.

Sometimes, Johnny thinks that Jaehyun is a soft child who he wants to take care of for his whole entire life. He felt like he was a father figure to the younger at times, especially during moments he had small dilemmas and crisis’ exploding like nuclear bombs in his mind that he would find a problem to sometimes properly form into coherent sentences to share with others. Though, most of the times, like now, Johnny only wanted to chuck a shoe down his throat but not so violently, because he did not want to commit murder and be put in jail for murdering someone who was not even worth being murdered.

+/+

Taeyong placed his hand on the knob of the door leading into the shower’s, pressing it down as the door’s hinges give way to allow the door to open for Taeyong. He pushed the door open, enclosing it as he enters the shower’s. The shower stalls still had the scent of soap in it, overwhelming Taeyong in a good way as he did indeed adore the scent of soap, be it the classical fruity scents like strawberry, vanilla or lemon or the more rare scents like cocoa that only the ones who loved to experiment with new things and get hooked on severe advertising would buy; for instance, his Freestyle Dance class senior, Oh Sehun.

Shaking his head to remove his thoughts of his senior, Taeyong took long strides to reach the bench in the middle of the room. Taeyong would always shower when his friends would be in the Eating Hall, munching food and most likely spilling its contents on the table as they spoke and chattered on about their days while eating. He simply liked it that way, not to avoid his friends, but because the shower would be empty. The usual schedule of every student was to shower firsthand before going back to their dorms, dumping their dirty clothes in their rooms, before going ahead to the Eating Hall for dinner. This was because each floor of their Dormitory Building had two shower rooms on opposite ends, facing one another behind glass panels which divided the floor and the empty space in the middle that allowed students to be able to look down the corridors and to scream and shout at their friends on lower floors of the Dormitory Building. The Eating Hall was a good five-minute walk from the Dormitory Building, and connecting the Eating Hall with an overhead bridge just a couple of steps in front of the entrance of the hall was the Class Prep Building. As the layout of the school was such as so, most would prefer to only go in one way, instead of going back and forth the school’s compound. Taeyong, however, would like it more to be somewhere where he wouldn’t have to face too many people, especially if it was in the shower.

It was a well-known fact among his friends that Taeyong was quite the hygienic person. Some of them used to make jokes about Taeyong’s obsessive nature towards washing his hands in the past, but those jokes gradually decreased to nothing over time. Being in the shower’s, surrounding by tens or even hundreds of students who were all sweaty, dirty, releasing immense body odor, would most definitely be a complete nightmare for Taeyong. Therefore, his friends don’t mind him skipping out on showering and eating with them, and Taeyong understood that they wouldn’t be following him to the shower’s or to eat in the Eating Hall either as the routine was a hassle. They did, though, once in a while if some of them weren’t too tired from the day, but it was the first day of school, and everyone wanted to take it easy and lazy before Hell really broke loose nearing the Performance Test season.

Hearing the sound of the door opening from behind him, Taeyong turned his head a 90 degree angle to see who it was, and when he saw who, his lips tugged into a smile as he then swiveled around fully, nodding his head in acknowledgment towards the younger, but still taller and that indeed somehow made Taeyong feel incredibly small and fidgety the first time he heard about the other from his friends. The other boy stopped in his tracks by the door, his hands still on the knob as he looked at Taeyong, his eyes scanning Taeyong from up and down, until Taeyong can feel him slowly eyeing every single body part of his. It was as if Taeyong was a sculpture in a far away museum, and the boy was absorbing, remembering, burning every part of Taeyong into his mind. Taeyong was quite used to people giving him attention, as his friends would never cease to say how Taeyong was handsome even though they see him and all of his multiple sides on a daily basis. Along with that, strangers do turn their heads to glance at Taeyong. Some girls would peek through their straws and drinks in cafes to eye Taeyong, whispering to one another with wide eyes as they appreciated his outward appearance.

However, the boy in front of him wasn’t simply giving him attention. He was not ogling over Taeyong like all of the previous people who did. He was giving Taeyong all of his attention, as if Taeyong was the only thing in his universe; as if Taeyong was his universe. It was as if he was etching every single bit and detail about Taeyong into his mind, every fiber, every breath, every flaw and every perfection. Taeyong allowed the boy to eye him for a while more, as, again, he was quite used to being given attention and he knew that people would usually stop staring at him after some time, but when the boy continued to eye Taeyong with such intensity, Taeyong cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak to him.

“Hello, Jaehyun.” Taeyong said, releasing a wide, toothy smile as he clapped his hands together, firmly holding his hands.

“Huh?” Jaehyun spoke, before taking a sharp inhale of breath as he must have realized what he had just did, eyes widening, and Taeyong thought he was going to apologize, but instead, the other said something completely different. “You know my name?”

Taeyong lets out a soft laugh, amused by the unexpected response. He could understand why the question was directed, though, as Jaehyun must have never spent time with Taeyong before as he would usually be busy doing his own homeworks in the corner whenever they did bump into each other. Jaehyun’s friends had said that the habit of Jaehyun doing his work during school hours came from a severe punishment which embarrassed Jaehyun to no end during Middle School, making him the studious and hardworking student he is today, but they did say it was only within school hours.

“Yeah, I do. Your friends sometimes hang out with my friends whenever we’re at the cafeteria during lunch, but you never joined us before.” Taeyong explained, rubbing his nape sheepishly as he did so as he saw a look of recognition cross Jaehyun’s face.

“Oh. Oh. Oh damn. Oh my God, I am so sorry for staring just now. Crap, I should have said sorry first instead of saying, ‘You know my name?’.” Jaehyun replied quickly, flustered as a soft tinge of peachy pink blushed his cheeks.

Taeyong nodded in response, shaking his head towards Jaehyun as he turned around once more towards the bench, letting his bag of clean clothes and plastic bags fall down onto the bench. As he took out his clothes and needed toiletries, he spoke out towards the boy behind him as he heard some shuffling and walking.

“What are you doing here? I’m always here when people are eating, and I never see you here.” Taeyong said, smoothing out the crinkles on his clothes as he sees Jaehyun setting two bags on the bench nearby him.

“Well,” Jaehyun began, falling silent for a bit as he bit his lips, and Taeyong eyes him from underneath his hair to look at the boy who was nervously eyeing the bags, fiddling with its handles. “I was talking with my friend about something - well, something important, yeah. Something important, that’s it.” Jaehyun uttered, more as if he was talking to himself rather than Taeyong.

Taeyong raised a brow, wonder and interest tugging on the corners of his heart. Although he did feel so, and he was tempted to question on what was important that he was in the shower’s, Taeyong didn’t voice it out. He simply hummed and nodded before forming proper sentences.

“You’re here because you’re late, then?” Taeyong asked, grabbing his towel out and setting it beside his clean clothes.

“Yeah. I’m just here to put down my bags, though. I have to -” Jaehyun sputtered and stumbled on his words as he looked at Taeyong, red neon lights flashing in his mind with the signs, ‘Get The Hell Out Of There!’.

Taeyong had tugged on the hem of his shirt, stripping it off of his body swiftly and languidly, ruffling his hair once the shirt was off. He folded the shirt into a neat square before he heard Jaehyun having tangled his words together. He looked up at Jaehyun from where he was bending, humming in question.

“You have to what?” Taeyong asked, confusion written as clear as day on his face.

Jaehyun blinked once, twice, and then thrice before he nodded with pursed lips and widened eyes, choking out a croaky laugh as he did so. He pointed towards the door, slowly shuffling out of the shower room inch by inch from Taeyong whose eyes never left Jaehyun’s figure.

“I have to go, Ten will freak, Johnny would kill me, Jaemin’s questions would be endless as heck and Jisung will think I did something that I did not do which I should never do and well, I’ve gotta go now, I guess. I do. Okay, bye!” Jaehyun spoke quickly, rushing out of the room as he raced away from the door, forgetting to close it before coming back again in a hurry, closing it, flashing Taeyong a dimpled smile and running off.

Taeyong was left there, eyeing the door, stunned and bewildered as he nodded his head to himself. He was shocked, to say the least, by the odd behavior of the other, but well, Taeyong knew that it wasn’t his place to say anything regarding anyone. Although, he did have nothing bad to say about Jaehyun. Jaehyun seemed amusing when he was speaking with his friends about other people that they knew, mutuals who would make great close friends, and he was indeed, amusing in a way.

+/+

Jaehyun had almost tripped down the last steps of the stairs, his legs flailing against each other and entangling in a wild knot of limbs. He would have hit face first and broken a nose, would have left a blood stain on the marbled floor of the dormitory’s first floor if it wasn’t for Johnny getting a hold of him before he did indeed fall on the ground. He gripped onto the others forearm, looking up towards him while panting and trying to breathe properly. Johnny rubbed his back as he nodded, mumbling for Jaehyun to breathe and to take it slow. Jaehyun nodded furiously, closing his eyes shut as he gasped for air, standing up haphazardly. He pushed his palms onto the wall, before slumping his back against it. Once his breathing was stable, he looked at Johnny again, but with much more calmness than his previous haggard-self.

“I’m taking photos of Taeyong.” He concluded, and Johnny’s eyebrows flew up in question.

Johnny had let his mouth loose, wanting to ask the thousands of questions running through his mind regarding his friend’s sudden change of mind. Johnny knew that Jaehyun would come to the conclusion sooner or later, but not as he almost fell down the stairs, breathing like he was choked in water for several hours. Jaehyun knew Johnny wanted explanations, but he simply waved his hands as a gesture for the other to not ask any questions, and that he would not answer.

Jaehyun wouldn’t even know how to answer. It was one thing to have come upon Taeyong in the shower’s as he took in all of Taeyong into the back of his mind, like Taeyong was the one who had put up the stars in Jaehyun’s world and eyes, like Taeyong was the star in itself. It was definitely another to see Taeyong’s exposed and milky skin, his toned body and his perfectly exercised torso. No, Jaehyun was not feeling hot or bothered, or disturbed at all. Instead, Jaehyun thought of Taeyong as one thing, and one thing only.

Lee Taeyong was inexplicably beautiful. Jaehyun wanted to capture his beauty on films of photos and do his beauty justice. Every inch of him, clothed or exposed. He was beautiful and Jaehyun was enchanted. Jaehyun also wanted to give those photos to Taeyong, and show to him how beautiful he just was. Jaehyun didn’t know why, but he wanted to. He wanted to catch Lee Taeyong and every parts of him, every curve and every edge, every crook and cranny, every soft gaze and hard, every furrow of his brow and crease on his face. Jaehyun wanted it to be taken by him through photographs.

“Well, when are we going to tell the rest, though? I don’t think Ten is going to like this, so the Eating Hall and during Class Prep would be a huge ‘No’. I don’t want to hear his screams in a public place.” Johnny said, whining and groaning, hanging his head back at simply the memory of Ten’s screech just a few moments ago when they were on the phone with each other.

“Of course not. We’ll invite them over after Class Prep. Lights go out at midnight, right? We’ll hang out in our room and tell them.” Jaehyun said, earning a nod and an ‘Okay’ sign from Johnny who was satisfied with the idea, so long as they weren’t in the public eye where Ten could make a complete embarrassment over them during the first day of the second term.


End file.
